Mary rolled to her feet and rushed toward Cameron.
Seona crawled to her bleeding lover, then cradled his head. “Ye killed him! Ach, nay, ye have killed him.”
“He would have killed Mary,” Cameron spat. “I willna let anyone harm her, least of all ye.” He hugged Mary to him, then released her. “Lass, go out in the hall and call for help. Someone must remove the body, and I willna leave ye alone withher.”
Mary nodded and went to the doorway. While she called for Rose guards, Cameron approached the man’sbody carefully, reminding her of how he was wounded months before. He’d learned caution that day.
Seona lay over the body, sobbing.
Mary kept her gaze on him and Seona. If Seona picked up the guardsman’s blade, she could stab Cameron while his attention was on the body.
Instead, Cameron retrieved it, then pulled his from beneath the body, jostling Seona and making her wail even louder. He sighed and straightened, then his gaze met Mary’s and he shook his head. Unlike the gallowglass man, the guardsman was indeed dead.
She nodded. She might feel sorry for Seona, except for all the misery the lass had caused. The sooner all Grants were gone from Rose, the better.
Hours later, the body had been removed, the blood cleaned up, and Seona had been given a sleeping draught and put in another chamber under guard. At Cameron’s direction, the blacksmith’s apprentice and his helper Seona had bribed had been consigned to a cell in the dungeon. Mary and Cameron finally retired to their chamber.
“Rose needs a new beginning,” Mary told him as they readied for bed. “We’ll start by burying my father in the morning.” She pressed her hand to her mouth, her throat tight, yet surprised when tears failed to come. Cameron’s gaze was on her, and she sighed, then told him, “I canna find the strength to cry right now.”
He nodded. “When ye do, I’ll be here to hold ye, Mary, my love.”
She went to him and gave him a grateful kiss, then climbed into bed. “The next thing we must do,” shecontinued, “is ask yer father for more men to help keep us safe from retaliation by Grant.”
“A wise decision, Laird Rose,” Cameron told her as he joined her. He pulled her to him and wrapped an arm around her.
Mary snuggled against him. She laid her head on his shoulder, inhaling his scent and melting into his warmth. “I will also have everything removed from Seona’s chamber and my father’s,” she promised. “We will furnish the laird’s chamber anew ’ere we move in there. And use hers for storage, I suppose. If I learned one thing from Lady Grant, it’s that appearances make an impression. I want this clan to be able to see all trace of Seona’s betrayal removed.”
“That suits me.”
The next morning after seeing her father laid to rest in the kirkyard, Mary bid Seona and her remaining Grant guard goodbye. “Do tell yer mother to forget about Rose,” Mary bade her. “Unless she wishes to go to war with the clans of the Moray firth, backed up by Munro, Erik Ross, and, aye, Sutherland, she’ll turn her territorial ambitions in another direction. Rose is in good hands and will remain so.”
Cameron watchedthe two Grants ride out of Rose’s gates with his heart in his throat. The people of clan Rose filled the bailey, and the din of their cheering echoed from the walls of the keep to the fortress walls around it, and back again. Suddenly, everything about his new situation hit him. In the gut. In the head. But mostly, in the heart.Mary was now Laird Rose. And his wife. He was consort, tied to this place, this clan, and these people for the rest of his life. He felt wonderful. And terrified. Despite the chill, sweat rolled down his spine.
Mary, standing beside him, watched the Grants go. Once they were out of sight, she turned to face her clan—her clan—and spoke.
“Clan Rose is once again in Rose hands. My father named me laird before he died, along with my husband, Cameron Sutherland, whom ye ken.”
Cheers broke out afresh, and Cameron took heart that Mary’s words—and his position in the clan—were well received. He raised her hand over her head, a sign of victory, and of gratitude the clan stood with her.
Mary smiled up at him, then leaned close. But instead of whispering something to him, she kissed him. In front of everyone.
“Well, Mary, my love,” he told her when they broke apart to more cheers and good-natured catcalls, “if anyone had any doubts, ye just removed them.”
“Good. I need ye, Cameron Sutherland,” she continued, speaking softly, just to him. “Without ye by my side, I canna do this. I feel terrible about Seona’s lover, even after all the trouble he caused on her behalf. And sorry for her, despite what a liar and schemer she turned out to be. Though not too sorry. If she’d had a son, she would have married her lover and ruled Rose for Grant. I’m certain that was what Lady Grant intended, to have Seona in charge until her brother attained an age to take over Grant and us. Yet ye ruined it all by keeping me safe and bringing Sutherland into what she saw as Grant business.”
“Nay, lass, ye needna feel guilty. They earned what they got.”
“As did that lout in the dungeon. Annie said he was trouble years ago. She was right. I shouldha paid more attention. We must banish him and his helper.”
“Ye could hang him for what he’s done, perhaps both.”
“Nay, I dinna want us to begin that way. The clan will be watching—and judging—us.”
“Dinna fash, ye can do this. Ye have done so for years now. I will be with ye, whatever comes.”
She bit her lip. “I ken ye never wanted to be laird, and how difficult a choice this was for ye to make. I’m sorry.”
“Ye are wrong lass,” he told her, cupping her cheek. “Ye ken fine, I never wanted it, but I did want ye. And I will do what I must to be with ye and to support ye.”
